@archerygun / archerygun.tumblr.com
On an Owen Lars high so I drew this. Excuse the shit quality. I’ve not taken Graphics courses yet.
I know Owen can’t come back as a ghost but the idea of him and Obi-Wan reaching solidarity in death over not being able to do anything for Luke anymore just GOT ME.
Guys it’s shit like THIS that makes me fixated on the Galactic Civil War era of Star Wars like what the fuck.
It’s always so heartbreaking to me that every time we see Owen display how he really feels about Luke in canon (the books, and Kenobi) Luke is never there to hear it.
When Owen faces down the inquisitor and declares that Luke IS his son, Luke is already way out of earshot (even though I do sort of consider the Kenobi show non-canon). When Owen talks to Beru after the argument with Luke on the day they die, telling her he feels bad about having to squash Luke’s dreams and wanting to find some way to make it up to him, he never hears it.
Owen’s relationship with Luke WAS complex, and it was rocky sometimes. I’ve always read this as Owen having difficulty being emotionally open, at least as far as the ANH novel and Kenobi show have shown. Owen loves Luke DEEPLY, right to his core. But he doesn’t know how to put that into words. He’s an awkward man! He’s been raised on nightmare hell planet where becoming too attached to someone might end up in them being killed or sold into slavery and you being miserable! Look at what happened to both of his mothers!
When someone you love dies, you look at all their actions with a new light and deeper introspection. Can you imagine the absolute world-shattering thoughts Luke must have had after Owen and Beru died?
Realising he was more deeply loved than he could have ever realised, even if Owen had a harder time showing it.
And Owen’s parental anxiety is shown in Kenobi! Owen Lars, one of the most dedicated fathers in the galaxy, probably died wondering if his son would ever know how much he really loved him.
Owen probably died with so, so many regrets. Owen probably died wondering if he deserved to raise Luke (which he DID) and if he had done enough to prepare his son for the world (HE DID).
Owen Lars has always been a heartbreaking character for me.
Glad the Kenobi series has shifted fan opinion in Owen’s favour so I can deliver this wonderful piece of information for you:
In the ANH book, Owen is canonically very much feared by the Anchorhead farming community and the possibility of sand people getting within thirty feet of his farm is like… not even considered.
Biggs is like “Come on, Owen doesn’t need you, he could hold off a whole group of sand people from the door with a single blaster.” AND NOT ONLY DOES LUKE NOT DENY THIS HIS ONLY CAVEAT IS “Yeah but Owen can’t protect all of his farm equipment from the house, can he?”
Like everyone on Tatooine is fully aware that Owen is not to be fucked with. Beru Lars is the more adventurous, willing to fight one in the relationship, but Owen is the one you’ve properly got to fear because he is a coward by inheritance. Generations on Tatooine do not teach moisture farmers to be confrontational in nature. They teach the opposite. So if Owen’s loading a blaster, he’s going for the fucking kill.
The answer, broadly, is yes, I know. But not for the reason you’re thinking. Just for one, hyper-specific reason that has little to do with the quality of the films.
Owen and Anakin weren’t actually brothers. Owen and Anakin met like… once. ‘Too much like his father’ the fuck you mean Mr. Lars, the man you met ONCE?
You mean to tell me we were robbed of what had the potential to be the funniest sibling dynamic in ALL of Star Wars? Angry old dirt farmer vs the Chosen One/Dark Lord of the Sith? Objectively hilarious. The implication (in the og film and book) that Anakin just fucked off one day to become a jedi starpilot, leaving Owen at home thinking “What a fucking nob.”? Peak comedy.
Can you imagine if these two were actually siblings? Owen watching the look in Luke’s eyes develop into the wild, idealistic look that cost him his brother. Telling Luke his father was a drug smuggler on some old cruiser because that was an easier story for Owen to tell than the reality of it, and after a while Owen himself starts half believing it. Despising Obi-Wan for both taking his brother from him, and then in his eyes causing him to become a monster. The tragedy of Vader ordering the death of his brother.
Say what you want about the brotherhood between Obi-Wan and Anakin, it’s a brilliant dynamic. But the idea of Anakin and Owen coming from the exact same nowhere, same family, same upbringing and everything… it hits me in the feels. Because they represent two polar opposites that ended up with a sort of reverse parallel fate.
Anakin wanted adventure in the stars and he got it, at the price of everyone he loved and never getting to see his kids. Owen wanted a simple life minding his farming and he got it, at the price of dying without ever seeing the stars and becoming alienated from his son. If these two men had been brothers, the TEARS THAT WOULD HAVE COME OUT OF MY EYES-
It would have humanised Owen to the audience long before Kenobi (which I do still basically consider non-canon even though it was a fun ride) did him the - admittedly a little bit over-the-top/ridiculous - justice he deserved. There have always been appreciators of Owen Lars but a lot of people see him as just a bastard. Give him some real PAIN behind that exterior. Give him a VERY good reason, an even better reason than the one in canon, for being the way he is.
Plus, the idea of Owen partially having the force is objectively the funniest concept ever (although I’d still go for the whole “Anakin had no father.” thing and have Owen be normal).
Sorry for the incoherency of my ramblings, I love Owen Lars.
Oh they would butt heads SO MuCH.
I can totally see it
(I am now in dire need of a story in which Owen and Anakin go on a vitriolic road trip to hurriedly buy Shmi her Life day gifts the week before said celebration)
Anakin driving the family landspeeder at 500 mph to try and get everything done quickly and Owen HOLDING ON FOR DEAR LIFE:
Owen Lars appreciators this post is for you.
One of the few things I really liked about Kenobi was the time to shine it gave Owen and Beru Lars. I know that scene with the inquisitor was absolutely ridiculous in every way possible but it was so in character for those two that frankly I didn’t even care like the whole show is non-canon to me anyway.
It shows the people Luke gets it from, and why. And it gives me all the feelings, especially because I know he probably only realised all of this once they were already dead and he couldn’t make it up with Owen anymore.
Luke deciding to die with his training unfinished and face Vader head on is the most Owen Lars move he could have ever made. He’s a simple man - not stupid, just has a simple worldview - if you’re one of his, you’re his and he’ll go to the ends of the earth (or galaxy) for you. (Yes, I was very affected by “He IS my own.”)
He is the son of OWEN LARS. The man who faced down an inquisitor with a fucking farming pole so Luke could get away. Facing up to an enemy you know you can’t possibly defeat, assuming you’ll die? In the hopes of protecting those you love? Lars family shit.
Owen is stubborn and loyal and despite his rough exterior he’s kind to his enemies. The way Kenobi acted surprised that Owen would defend him, that to me is a big part of Luke’s worldview. Owen hates Obi-Wan’s guts but he won’t sell him out to the Empire to be killed. Luke learned kindness and forgiveness from Beru, and he learned respect, loyalty and mercy from Owen.
Luke grew up on the biggest galactic shithole in all of Star Wars, and he came out of it being the kindest beacon of hope for the Galaxy and restarted the Jedi Order that had failed Anakin. And he learned it from his aunt and uncle, the parents that did their goddamn best to raise their son. He learned it from Biggs Darklighter, his childhood best friend with revolutionary fervour who he buried before he was even out of his teen years. He learned it from the stubbornness of a group of people that settled and farmed in a stupidly harsh environment where they were constantly in danger of being sold into slavery or killed by sand people.
Luke may have inherited Anakin’s midichlorians, but what made him Luke was his upbringing. He’s Owen and Beru Lars’ son. And they raised him well.
The answer, broadly, is yes, I know. But not for the reason you’re thinking. Just for one, hyper-specific reason that has little to do with the quality of the films.
Owen and Anakin weren’t actually brothers. Owen and Anakin met like… once. ‘Too much like his father’ the fuck you mean Mr. Lars, the man you met ONCE?
You mean to tell me we were robbed of what had the potential to be the funniest sibling dynamic in ALL of Star Wars? Angry old dirt farmer vs the Chosen One/Dark Lord of the Sith? Objectively hilarious. The implication (in the og film and book) that Anakin just fucked off one day to become a jedi starpilot, leaving Owen at home thinking “What a fucking nob.”? Peak comedy.
Can you imagine if these two were actually siblings? Owen watching the look in Luke’s eyes develop into the wild, idealistic look that cost him his brother. Telling Luke his father was a drug smuggler on some old cruiser because that was an easier story for Owen to tell than the reality of it, and after a while Owen himself starts half believing it. Despising Obi-Wan for both taking his brother from him, and then in his eyes causing him to become a monster. The tragedy of Vader ordering the death of his brother.
Say what you want about the brotherhood between Obi-Wan and Anakin, it’s a brilliant dynamic. But the idea of Anakin and Owen coming from the exact same nowhere, same family, same upbringing and everything… it hits me in the feels. Because they represent two polar opposites that ended up with a sort of reverse parallel fate.
Anakin wanted adventure in the stars and he got it, at the price of everyone he loved and never getting to see his kids. Owen wanted a simple life minding his farming and he got it, at the price of dying without ever seeing the stars and becoming alienated from his son. If these two men had been brothers, the TEARS THAT WOULD HAVE COME OUT OF MY EYES-
It would have humanised Owen to the audience long before Kenobi (which I do still basically consider non-canon even though it was a fun ride) did him the - admittedly a little bit over-the-top/ridiculous - justice he deserved. There have always been appreciators of Owen Lars but a lot of people see him as just a bastard. Give him some real PAIN behind that exterior. Give him a VERY good reason, an even better reason than the one in canon, for being the way he is.
Plus, the idea of Owen partially having the force is objectively the funniest concept ever (although I’d still go for the whole “Anakin had no father.” thing and have Owen be normal).
Sorry for the incoherency of my ramblings, I love Owen Lars.
Han Solo - the world’s worst trophy husband.
Tl4j discovering Luke’s old nickname of Wormie? Maybe from Din who spends time on Tattione still?
I think DIN finding out would be funny enough
(commission info // kofi support!)
Reblogging this to add - Luke’s fight or flight reflex is FLOP. FLOP.
In the novelisation of A New Hope they call attention to the fact that 15 years of intense survival school on Tatooine culminated in him fainting the second he’s threatened.
I will forever be sad that Biggs Darklighter did not live to watch Luke become a jedi because he would have teased him MERCILESSLY.
I love their relationship because Han is scared of being emotionally vulnerable and not sure how relationships work, and Leia is scared of being emotionally vulnerable because she’s been a fucking revolutionary leader since the age of about 16 and everyone close to her DIED.
Leia is super clingy (like literally. She won’t let him leave for five minutes in ESB to pay Jabba the Hutt back so he can live in peace without a bounty on his head) because she’s seen so, so many people like Han set out and never come back again. Last time she left someone she loved alone, her whole PLANET was blown up. Partially because of her! Which is why she’s so scared to get into a relationship with him because he’s a hotheaded dumbass who can and will endanger his own life in all possible ways.
MEANWHILE Han has the same problem of being scared of being emotionally open and connecting in a relationship but handles it in the COMPLETELY opposite way, by going off on his own and doing stupid shit and ignoring Leia and pretending to be Mr. Cool with his best friend who keeps trying to talk him out of it.
Leia is overprotective over the most unstable “Hold my beer.” idiot with zero sense of self-preservation in the entire Galaxy and his response to her being overprotective and trying to love him is “Oh shit. Guess I should put myself in danger again.”
Like honey you two need THERAPY. You have the same issue in opposite directions. But also I am rooting for your relationship because there is nothing nicer than two people being each other’s equals. Especially when that thing they are equal in is trauma.
Additionally - Han is not going to be able to get out of being Leia’s trophy husband. She’s a revolutionary leader. A politician. A Princess. She has important events to be at. And he can’t be left unsupervised.
I’m imagining some Alderaanian servant survivor as one of Leia’s aides losing sleep over the shit Han might pull at the next fancy dinner. They comb his hair and put him in some sort of traditional Alderaanian piece to try and disguise the fact that he is an Unhinged Bastardous Goblin and tell him to behave for five minutes.
Tbh if it’s some politician wanker Leia can’t stand, I feel like she’d be so down for bringing Han along and watching him wreak absolute hell at a dinner setting. She just quietly apologises, hiding a smirk as her participation trophy husband horrifies the entire room with his personality. And I mean, who can blame Leia for all these shenanigans? She’s a competent leader, an excellent diplomat, a skilled politician. The Princess’ gremlin of a boyfriend can be excused as war trauma or something while she gets to upset all her annoying ass politician enemies by ruining their silly gatherings.
And just imagine. Leia’s having a terrible day. She’s got dinner later and so many people to impress, having to measure up to her father’s legacy. And she’s just… flipping out. She doesn’t show any of that, but Han’s dated her for long enough to know when she’s losing her shit even if she won’t tell him that.
And without any fanfare, without any gloating, Han shows up to dinner and he’s the perfect trophy boyfriend all night. He just smiles when he can’t figure out how to be polite or focuses on the food. He gets Chewie to feed him lines or translate something if he’s about to do some stupid shit. And you can tell that he hates this, but Leia just needs a break and Han will not intentionally make himself another problem on his girlfriend’s plate.
Because I mean that’s really the core of making Han and Leia work as a couple innit. They bicker and argue about stupid shit and one-up each other about things that don’t matter but when it DOES matter, they show up for each other. They fix themselves when they realise they fucked up.
(Plus I think it’d be funny as shit if some scholar gets chatting with Han because he speaks Wookiee and the guy’s like “Oh my god??? Finally my chance to learn about their culture and history??? How the fuck did you master this language are you hiding a second set of vocal cords in there???”)
Yes I was bored. Yes it took me a straight day. Yes I was meant to be revising.
Brought to you by procrastination.
I love their relationship because Han is scared of being emotionally vulnerable and not sure how relationships work, and Leia is scared of being emotionally vulnerable because she’s been a fucking revolutionary leader since the age of about 16 and everyone close to her DIED.
Leia is super clingy (like literally. She won’t let him leave for five minutes in ESB to pay Jabba the Hutt back so he can live in peace without a bounty on his head) because she’s seen so, so many people like Han set out and never come back again. Last time she left someone she loved alone, her whole PLANET was blown up. Partially because of her! Which is why she’s so scared to get into a relationship with him because he’s a hotheaded dumbass who can and will endanger his own life in all possible ways.
MEANWHILE Han has the same problem of being scared of being emotionally open and connecting in a relationship but handles it in the COMPLETELY opposite way, by going off on his own and doing stupid shit and ignoring Leia and pretending to be Mr. Cool with his best friend who keeps trying to talk him out of it.
Leia is overprotective over the most unstable “Hold my beer.” idiot with zero sense of self-preservation in the entire Galaxy and his response to her being overprotective and trying to love him is “Oh shit. Guess I should put myself in danger again.”
Like honey you two need THERAPY. You have the same issue in opposite directions. But also I am rooting for your relationship because there is nothing nicer than two people being each other’s equals. Especially when that thing they are equal in is trauma.
